The Values Behind Chalmers Cards

So we’ve been working away at Chalmers Cards. Thanks for all the wonderful feedback and support people have been sending on social media. We really appreciate it 😊

We’re in the midst of prototyping new designs and openly wondering where we can put the tech in this civic tech project. But outside of that, in the meetings that Zach, Chalmers, and I have had we’ve decided to outline a set of core values that guide the spirit of the project, and where we think it will go in the future:

1. Alleviate the struggles of Toronto’s homeless by connecting them with great public services and resources
2. Create two way communication between people in unstable housing conditions with City Hall
3. Leverage the power and resources of hackerspaces throughout Toronto for the benefit of the city’s vulnerable population

What does that mean?

Our goal is to creatively think of new ways to connect people in need with the right services and resources that are available to them. Right now this is in the form of our laser wooden cut cards, and we’ve had a lot of success so far. But we’re openly working towards adding more value to them outside of just being information handouts. And although the future of the design may change, our main goal is to support the thousands of Toronto’s most vulnerable.

Furthermore we know there is a gap. Between speaking with frontline workers and people on the street, there is a fundamental knowledge and communication divide. We hope our work can help mend this in inventive ways, and part of our musings on incorporating the power of tech into the project will hopefully work towards that.

Lastly, Toronto is a rich tech city. And there is a huge amount of resources, whether it is equipment time or physical goods, that is not being used in these hackerspaces to their full potential. We want to leverage these resources to tackle issues that impact our city’s most vulnerable.

Join us

We’re excited about the possibilities that utilizing these resources can provide for the city of Toronto. And we hope you can join us on this journey.

If you’re interested in helping out in someway, you can join the #info-cards-4-homeless channel in the Civic Tech Toronto Slack, or email us at misterchalmers@protonmail.com

P.S. We’re close to figuring out a way to viably fund the project so stay tuned!!